


Gone

by theundeadsiren (rhoen)



Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-05-04 06:30:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5324006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhoen/pseuds/theundeadsiren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kieren simply walked out of the house without telling anyone where he was going. Jem is frightened after stumbling across the last page Kieren visited on their family PC - the BBC news page naming the soldier killed in yesterday's attack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gone

**Author's Note:**

> Un-beta'd and awful, but eh.
> 
> Happy anniversary of Kieren's death, everyone.

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Thank you for respecting my wishes.

* * *

 

“Dad!”

Jem crashed down the stairs, shouting as she went. Her loose socks made her slip, and she caught herself with her arm over the banister, the pain forgotten as she righted herself and drew breath to shout out again, as loudly as she could.

“Mum! Dad!”

Steve was just emerging from the living room, clearly about to say something about the noise. “Now listen, young lady, if you can’t-”

He stopped mid sentence, shaken by the sight of his daughter. He’d never seen her this frantic, ever. Twenty seconds ago she’d bolted upstairs, getting up from the computer so abruptly the chair had been flung to the ground. He’d heard her racing up the stairs, flinging doors open, and then thundering back downstairs. Instantly he knew that something was very, very wrong, and words left him as fear tightened sickeningly around him.

Sue, half a second behind him, came running from the kitchen, no doubt just as disrupted by the commotion. Jem had started crying, ugly panicked sobs causing her chest to heave, and tears streaming down her face - a sight which clearly alarmed Steve, because he simply stood there, unmoving.

“What is it?” Sue asked, looking between the two of them and then reaching out to Jem. “What is it love?”

“K- Ri- He, he, he…”

Words failed her as she flung herself into Sue’s arms, shaking with shock. Her cries were loud, even muffled by Sue’s jumper, and as she smoothed over her daughter’s hair, Sue looked up to Steve, trying not to allow her unease to show.

“Would you go up and check on him?” she asked softly. Steve went with barely a nod. She had no idea what Kieren might have done to upset his sister, but with Jem falling apart in her arms, Sue’s priority was to settle her daugher. “Here, love,” she said gently, moving towards the living room. “Come and let’s sit down.”

“I have to go! I have to…”

Jem was trying to pull against Sue’s attempts to direct her. Pathetically, she reached for the front door, but Sue firmly tugged her away. There was no way she was letting Jem go anywhere in such a state. Struggling with the distraught teenager, Sue shifted them into the living room and sat them down. Nothing more than the occasional consonant was now audible as Jem choked and sobbed, her face a complete mess. Sue kept an arm around her. Jem seemed to be trying to say Kieren’s name, but all she could do was wait patiently, rubbing between Jem’s shoulders, hoping for her to calm down enough to speak.

Steve came back into the room, his face lined with worry. One shake of his head told Sue all she needed to know.

“He’s gone,” he said thinly. “Jem, love, do you know where your brother went?”

Almost violently shaking her head, Jem sobbed even louder, trying to get up. Sue tugged her down with difficulty.

“It’s okay,” she soothed, “he’s probably just nipped to the shop and didn’t tell us, or took his sketchbook somewhere.”

Jem was shaking her head furiously again, mouthing a word easily understood: “No, no, no, no, no!”

It was unsettling. Sue looked to Steve for support, but found the same anxiety she felt looking back at her. It wasn’t like Kieren to do or say something that upset Jem this much. It wasn’t unusual for Kieren to take himself off for walks, but Jem had never acted like this before.

At a loss, Sue turned back to Jem, still rubbing her back gently. “Take a deep breath, love. You need to tell us what it is. Did Kieren say something?”

Before she’d finished speaking Jem had started crying harder, rocking back and forth, back and forth, shaking her head and trembling. Sue felt completely helpless.

“What is it, Jem?” Steve asked, taking a step forward.

“It’s Rick.” Jem gasped. “It’s Rick. It’s Rick. It’s Rick. It’s Rick. RICK!”

The name tore from her in a raw scream as she curled forwards, folding in on herself and sobbing even more violently. The pain and grief in her daughter’s action caused Sue to freeze, her blood running cold.

She instantly knew.

“We have to find him,” Steve said, sounding beyond terrified. “We have to go look. I’ll.. I’ll go check down the lane, the shop, down the station… I’ll…”

Sue nodded, dimly aware of the loud sobbing beside her as she tried to process what was happening. “All right. I’ll…” she turned back to Jem, smoothing over her daughter’s hair. “I’ll wait here. Come back in an hour and we can all go out together.”

“Right... “ Steve said, looking around. “Right.”

Grasping onto the useful task, he made for the door. Sue had already turned back to Jem. She couldn’t think about what had just hit her. The implications were too big. Rick. She loved that boy as if he were her own. At times he might as well have been. And the love she knew he and Kieren shared… If Kieren knew what had happened…

Steve would return in an hour, she reminded herself as she pulled Jem upright and into a hug, feeling wetness soaking through her top. Jem’s voice was already beyond raw, and her throat had to be hurting. Steve would be back in an hour, probably with an upset Kieren, and they would go from there. If he hadn’t found Kieren… well, they’d go out looking again. They’d find him. They’d fix this, as much as it could be fixed. They’d get through this. Together.

“You’re all right, love,” Sue soothed, fighting back tears of her own. “You’re all right.”

Eyes stinging with tears, Sue held her daughter and watched the clock, every second slipping by agonisingly slowly as she desperately waited for her husband and son to come home.


End file.
